5.

5 ATTRIBUTION, THEORIES OF ATTRIBUTION

AND ATTRIBUTION BIAS

Attribution refers to the the thought processes we employ in

explaining the behavior of other people and our own as well.
Attribution implies an explanation for the cause of an event or
behavior. Attribution theory explains how individuals pinpoint the
causes of their own behavior or that of others. We are
preoccupied with seeking, constructing and testing explanations of
our experiences and to render it orderly, meaningful and
predictable for adaptive action.
Fritz Heider is considered the father of attribution theory. He
believed that people are like amateur scientists, trying to
understand other people's behavior by piecing together information
until they arrive at a reasonable cause.

He proposed a simple dichotomy for people's explanations:

internal attributions, in which people infer that a person is behaving
a certain way because of something about that person (e.g., a trait
or attitude) versus external attributions, in which people infer that a
person is behaving in a certain way because of the situation that he
or she is in. Heider also noted that people seem to prefer internal
attributions
The Two-Step Process of Making Attributions
There are two steps involved in the process of attribution.
First step : Here people analyze another's behavior, they typically
automatically.
make an internal attribution

Second step: Here they think about possible situational reasons

or the benaviot, Alerengaging in ne second step. tney may aojust
their onginal intermal atibuton to take account or siuaional tactors.

Because this second

step is more and
conscious effortful,
people may not get to it if they are distracted or preoccupied.
People Wil be more likely to engage in the second step o
atnbutional processing when, they consciousily think caretuly
before making a judgment, when they are motivated to be as
accurate as possible, or if they are suspicious about the motives of
Target.

Research has demonstrated that spOUses in happy

marriages make internal attributions for their partner's positive
behaviors and external attibutions for their partners negative

behaviors, while spouses in distressed marriages display the

Opposite parern.

Internal and external attributions can have dramatic

on How a
consequences everyday interactiorns. you react to
person's anger may be dependent on whether you believe that they
are having a bad day or that they disike something about you the
ipples floW into the future and influence how you treat that person
henceforth.

Jones and Davis's (1965) correspondent inference theory

explains how people nler that a person s behaviour corresponds to
an
underlying disposition or personality trait. Dispositional (internal)
cause is preferred as it is stable and renders people's behaviour
more predictabie and increases sense of control.

Theory of Causal Attribution

According to this theory in the case of Single-Instance

Observation the following principles are used in making attributions.

Discounting principle works on the idea that we should assign

reduced weight to a particular cause of behavior if there are other
plausible causes that might have produced it

Augmentation principle works on the idea that we should assign

greater weight to a particular cause of behavior if there are other
causes present that normally would produce the opposite outcome.
 In the case of multiple observations the co variation principle
centering on the idea that we should aftibute behavior to potential

causes that co-occur with the behavior is used.

People act as

Sclentists and assign causes or behaviour to the factor that co

varies most closely with the behaviour.

The Covariation Model

The Co-vaiation Theory assumes that people make causal

attibutions in a rational, logical fashion, ike detectives, drawing
inferences trom clues and observed behaviours. By discovering co

oho ouyou
dre doie to reach a judgment
abour wnat caused their
behaviour,
The covariation model of Kelley (1967) focuses on how
people decide whether to make an internal or an external attribution
ano on instances where there are multiple observations of

benavior. explains the attrbution process as a search for

ntormation about what a particular behavior is correlated (covaries)
with: is
When behaviour with
correlated it is
the situation
external attribution. When behavior is correlated with the person it calied
amounts to internal attribution The theory views people as naivve
scientists who analyze the world in a rational manner.

CCOring to ely.in order to form an attribution about what

caused a he
tartoe en
presence (or absence) of possible causal
not the behavior occurs. The most fundamental observation we
a R e a00ut a persons behavior is whether it is due to internal or

external caUSes (s the behavior determined by the person's own

cnaractersCS Or Dy the situation in which
causal ractors weTOcUs on are
it occurs?).The possible
Consensus normaton, or
informaton about the extent to which other people Denave tne
same way towards the same stimulus as the actor does
(2) distinctiveness information, or information about the extent to
wnich one particular actor behaves in the same way to different

similar siatione U E Denavior occurs in other,

whether the
repeatediv Whe s o
behavior occurs
information combine into one of distinct patterns, a clear attribution
anb e made.

1. Low Consensus, Low Distinctiveness and High Consistency

leads
people to make an internal attnoUton or tne actor.

2. High Consensus, High Distinctiveness, and High Consistency

lead people to make an external attribution. It is something about
the situation or target.
3. Finally when Consistency is Low we cannot make a clear internal
or external attribution, and so resort to a special kind of external or
Situational attribution.
A) So when there is a Low Consensus, and High Distinctiveness, it
dnd e r a c O n tmat uniquely causes
d situauoO
B) When there is High Consensus, and Low Distinctiveness, it is
either an actor attribution or a situation attribution. You basically
don't know in this
situation
make
Several studies
way
have shown
model
that people often
should with one
atfnbutions he Kelleys
excepton. In researcn studies,
say they
people dont u s e consensUs
information as much as Kelley's theory predicted; they rely more on
consistency and distinctivenesS information when torming
attributions.

consen
Peopleare most likely to make an internal attnbution when
are most likely to make an extenal attribution when cons
distinctiveness, and consistency are all high. When these
dimensions are coupled with the internal and extemal labels a
powertul tool comes into place to make judgments that intluences
win
decisions. For exämpie, nign consisteney can De associated
both intemal and extenal attributes, while high distinctiveness
external attributes, and high consensus with intermal
aligns with
atfributes.

The covariation model assumes that people make causal

attributions in a rational, logical fashion. Several studies generally
way that
conirm that people can indeed make atriDutions in the
information o seas uch ac Kelleus mndel
nretictsAlc
people do not always have the relevant information they need on all
three dimensions.

Covariation is not causation Making co-variation judgments

not
requires multiple obServations, often this informations
available. We need to be aware that attributes are only inferences.
af behaviour may never be known, what we are
The initial causes
doing is guessing.

Attribution Theory in Education:

theory
Also, known as the Attribution Theory of Motivation, this
about self or others influence motivation. One of the most
prominent psychologists who focused on The Attribution Theory of
 9

Education was Bernard Weiner. Mr. Weiner said that all the factors
and level of task difficulty. These factors mainly
details of the things which are under or beyond our control; effort,
provIOe
an unstable factor on which we exercise a great deal of control;
ability, a stable factor on which we do not have much control; luck,
an unstable factor over which we exercise little control and level o
difficulty, a stable factor which is beyond our control.

Attribution Biases: bias that

in psychology, an attribution blas is a cognitive
arects the way we determine who or what was responsible tor an
event or action (attribution). It is natural for us to interpret events

and results as the consequences of the purposeful actions of some

person or agent. This is a deep-seated bias in human perception
which has been present throughout human history. Our ancestors
invariably attributed narura e Atribtion biases are
drougns le evaluate the dispositions or quailes of
oOthers based on
incomplete evidence.

of
Attribution
biases typically take the torm actor/observer
differenceS: people involved in an action (actors) view thing5
diferently rom people not invoved (o0servers).hese
discrepancies are often caused by asymmetries in availability

(frequently called "salience in this context). For exarmpie,the

behavior o an actor is easier to remember (and thererore more
available for later consideration) than the setting in which
he found

himself; and a person's own inner turmoil is more available to

himself than it is to someone else. As a result, our judgments of
attribution are often distorted along those lines.

The attribution bias under-estimate the

tactors over human
mpota t a n e we might talk to a person from anone
country who mentions they only venture outside the house for
outdoor recreation only once a week, and assume this means tna
they are a person who loves the indoors. However, we may be
unaware that live in a cold location where it is freezing outside
they
for most of the season.

The fundamental attribution error (also known as

correspondence bias) describes the tendency to over-value
dispositional or personality-based explanations ror tne 05Ev
behaviors of others while
those behaviors. It 1s
under-vaung t behavior
most v of one's own behavior
Orhere
onerssituational factors are often taken into consideration. This
 50

discrepancy is called the actor-observer bias. Fundamental

Error to tendency to to
Atfribution reers the make attribubons
internal causes when tocusing on someone else s behavior. when
ooKing at the behavIOr of others, we tend to underestimate the

impact of Situational torces and overestimate the impacto

dispositional forces. Most people ignore the impact of role
and see
pressures other situational constraints
on others and
behavior as caused by people's intentions, motives, and atitudes.

Self-Serving Attributions

succes
Sell-serving attribubons are explanations or one's
explanations for one's tailures that blame external, situational
factors. Self-serving bias is a tendency to attribute one's own
Successto internal causes and one s Tailures to external
causes. This pattern is observed in the attnbutions that protessional
athietes make tor their performances. t has been Tound that lesS
experienced athletes, more highly skilled athletes, and athletes in
solo sports are more likely to make self-serving attributions.

One reason people make self-serving attributions is to

maintain their sell-esteem. A second reason is sell-presentabon, to
maintain the perceptions others have of one self. A third reason is
because people have information about their behavior in other

Situations which may lead to positve outcomes Deng

expected
and negative oucomes Deng unexpected andtnus attrouted
mistortune. Because otherwise, they would have to admit that
their control, and would be unable to
misfortune was beyond
avoid it in the future.
they

Defensive attributions are explanations for behavior or

Outcomes (e.g.. tragc events)that avoid teelings of vulnerability
and mortality. One way we deal with tragic information about
others is to make it seem like it could never happen to Us. We do so
through the belief in a just world, a torm of defensive attribution
wherein people assume that to bad
bad things happen and
people
that good things happen to good people. Because most of us see
Ourselves as good, this reassures us that bad things will not

happen tonisUs. he belet in a just wonid can

VIctim ror or ner
lead to blarming the

sionue
Culture also influences attributional bias. With regard to the
beliet in a Just worid, in cuitures where the tbeliet is dominant, social
and economic injustices are considered tair (the poor and
disadvantaged have less because they deserve less).he just
Is cultures where there are
worid belier more predominant in
greater extremes of wealth and poverty.
 Our attributions may not be always accurate under many
circumstances. Flrst impressions, Tor examnple, are not vey

we get to know someone, the more

accurate.
However, the beter
accurate we will be about them.

One reason our impressions are

wrong is
because of the
mental shortcuts we use n Torming social judgments.. Another
of
reason our
impresSions can De wrong concerns our use
schemas, such as relying on implicit theories of personality to judge
the most pervasive and ultimately the
Others. Atribution errors are
most destructive of the cognitive deficits. Avoiding the attribution
bias can be difficult. One strategy is to
Simpiy give otner peope e
benefit of the doubt. Another wouid elarib
background behind the circuntn e t lasible. Yet
whetner neselt how one would behave in a similar
noe ntino the attribution bias completely
See
irmpossihle as it is built into human nature. However, throug
reflective thinking. it appears possible to minimize its effects.o
improve accuracy of your attributions and impressions, remember
and
that the correspondence bias, the actor/observer diference,
defensive attributions exist and try to counteract these biases.

6 APPLICATIONS OF ATTRIBUTION THEORY:

Attribution theory helps us to understand why people have
depression and prejudices.

Attribution and Depression

Depressives have a different attributional style than non
depressives. They are often morerealistic in their atributions,
which may be why they are depressed! Depressed persons often
show a self-defeating pattern of attributions, which is the opposite
of the self-serving bias. They attribute negative outcomes to stable,
internal
causes and posifive Outcomes to temporary external
ea a o iemaletabl atrihtione for had
n ouer do wel in mathematics). These are the
most punishing of all They
possible attributions. undermine the
person's self-esteem and make him/her have a dismal outiook
about future performances. Depressives may have an
unrealistically dark view of life.

Attribution and prejudice:

group
APreudces anegatve
Prejudices Deet or eeng
are often abouta
passed partculiar
on trom one
generation to the next
 52

Prejudice is a destructive phenomenon, and it is pervasive

because it serves many psychological, social, and economic
functions. It allows people to avoid doubt and fear. It gives people
Scapegoats to blame in times of trouble and can boost self-esteem.
Evolutionary psychologists suggest that prejudice allows people to
bond with their own group by contrasting their own groups to
outsider groups. For example most religious and ethnic groups
maintain some prejudices against other groups, which help to make
their own group seem more special. Prejudice legitimizes
discrimination because it apparently ustifies one group's
dominance over another.

People's social identities depend on the groups they belong

to. From a person's perspective., any group he belongs to is an
ingroup. and any group he doesn't belong to is an outgroup.
People generally have a lower opinion of outgroup members and a
higher opinion of members of their own group. People who identify
strongly with a particular group are more likely to be prejudiced
against people in competing outgroups.

Prejudices in workplaces affect how people perceive sexual

harassment. Men are more likely than women to attribute blame to
the victim. Changing men's attributions regarding sexual
harassment may help to prevent it. The theory also helps in
criminal law to understand the psychology of criminals. In today's
world, with the increase in crime and global terrorism understanding
criminal psychology has become essential.